Transnational Organized Crime: The International Response: Hampton Roads International Security Quarterly, Vol. XII, Nr. 1

Much attention has been devoted to transnational terrorism over the past decade - and rightly so. Yet there is another transnational threat which has been expanding exponentially, but with a much lower profile, over the past two decades. Transnational Organized Crime or TOC is much more likely than terrorism to directly threaten the individual citizen of any western nation. In many ways it constitutes its own form of terrorism. Who does not consistently worry about identity theft, credit card fraud, or phishing? How much money and time does the average internet user spend on anti-virus software and other security measures, or on monitoring bank and credit card statements or credit reports? Thank TOC, which dominates the financial fraud sector. How many American and European jobs are lost due to product piracy in Asia or Africa? How many billions of taxpayer Dollars or Euros are spent on keeping up - or trying to catch up - with human smugglers? Thank TOC again. Not to mention the global drug trade, which now binds not only the single largest slice of law enforcement budgets, but is also diverting naval vessels away from their military missions. Speaking of naval vessels - there are clear indications that TOC has its hand in Somalian piracy as well. Then there is the nexus of TOC and terrorism. Latin American drug cartels have long employed terrorism in order to discourage government efforts to combat them. Conversely, terrorist groups such as the IRA have engaged in organized crime in order to finance their operations. Middle Eastern and Central Asian terrorist groups have entered the global drug trade in a big way. Not to forget the involvement of rogue governments in drug and weapons trafficking, counterfeiting, cybercrime and trademark piracy. Governments in North America, Europe and Asia have recognized the threat. They have also recognized that a transnational threat can only be defeated through transnational cooperation. The Transatlantic community conducted an in-depth conference of experts to discuss dismantling TOC networks. The Lisbon symposium was held in May 2011, but the final report was only released through the US State Department and the European Union in November. Pacific nations held a similar conference in Phuket in October, and quickly released the summary of proceedings. The United States government's National Security Council released the US strategy for combating transnational organized crime, classifying TOC as a national security threat. The US strategy - released in July - places great emphasis on international cooperation as well. The complete text of all three documents is reprinted in this issue of Hampton Roads International Security Quarterly. We wish you interesting reading.